Sentenced in July 2010 to 3 years’ imprisonment for “Endangering State Security (ESS)”

On 23 or 24 July 2010, the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court, East Turkestan, sentenced three Uyghur Webmasters, Dilshat Perhat (administrator of the Diyarim Website), Nureli Obul (Selkin Website), and Nijat Azat (Shabnam Website), to 5, 3, and 10 years’ imprisonment, respectively, for endangering state security.

Sources connected the cases said they were sentenced for not deleting postings about hardships in East Turkestan and, in one instance, permitting the posting of announcements for a demonstration in Urumqi in July 2009.

Unidentified men in Urumqi took Dilshat Perhat (age at detention: 27) from his home on 7 August 2009. Authorities earlier interrogated him from 24 July to 2 August 2009 in connection to the demonstration and riots in Urumqi. Nijat Azat and Nureli Obul are also believed to have been detained then.

According to his brother, Dilshat Perhat is serving his sentence in the Changji Prison in Changji City, XUAR (about 40km from Urumqi). He receives family visits every 1-2 month for around 20 minutes.

The location at which Nureli Obul and Nijat Azat are serving their sentences is unknown.

Sources:

Amnesty International (AI), China Convicts Uighur Web Managers on State Security Charges, 30 July 2010, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/china-convicts-uighur-web-managers-state-security-charges-2010-07-30

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China Sets Prison Terms for 3 Uighur Web Managers, 2 August 2010, available at: http://cpj.org/2010/08/china-sets-prison-terms-for-3-uighur-web-managers.php

Radio Free Asia (RFA), Call for Uyghurs’ Release, 15 December 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease-12152009110742.html

Reporters without Borders, Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security, 2 August 2010, available at: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur-journalist-and-website-24-07-2010,38016.html

The New York Times, China Imprisons 3 Men Who Maintained Uighur Web Sites, 30 July 2010, available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31china.html?_r=1

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nureli” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number:  2010-00106), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7814

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalist and Webmasters, 7 August 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798

Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur American Association Strongly Condemns the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4861/1/Uyghur-American-Association-strongly-condemns-the-sentencing-of-three-Uyghur-webmasters/index.html

World Uyghur Congress (WUC), WUC Strongly Denounces the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at:  http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3617

[Last updated: November 2011]